2 A Big Mess

2 A Big Mess "Follow me," Aunt Anne told Violet and Leon. She walked down the hall and opened the bathroom door. "Look at the big mess you've made." Puddles of water covered the floor. Water dripped from the faucet. "I found this faucet gushing with water, and now I can't get it to stop dripping," Aunt Anne said. "I've told you before not to leave it running.

"But, Mom, we didn't!" Leon said. "It's the same upstairs," said Violet's mom. "Were you playing some kind of game?" She was looking at the bag strapped around Violet's waist. Violet had stuffed it with small tools. A magnifying glass. A tiny flashlight. Sunglasses. Mom has spotted my fairy-catching bag! Violet thought. She had started bringing it along when they looked for pixies, but her tools had nothing to do with the leaky faucets.

Violet thought fast. "No, Mom," she said. "Honest. Maybe the faucets are broken." "Maybe," her mom said. "But they were fine this morning. Aunt Anne looked at their faces closely. "I want you two to clean up the mess here and upstairs," she said. "After lunch, we'll all go into town. We'll get some new parts for the faucets." "But, Mom!" Leon said. "Why should we have to clean it up when we didn't even—" "Enough, Leon," Aunt Anne said. "Now get to work."

Aunt Anne and Mrs. Briggs went upstairs. Violet got a mop and pail from the hall closet. Violet started sloshing the mop on the bathroom floor. Sprite flew out of her pocket and sat on the edge of the sink. Leon found some rags and began to help. "This is going to take forever!" "You're right!" Violet replied. She sighed. "Now we won't get to look for fairies again until tomorrow." Suddenly, Sprite pointed to the sink. "A fairy!" Sprite shouted. "There's a fairy in the sink!"